Colonial mansions in Mexico you can actually sleep in
Growing up as an innocent child of the 1980s and ‘90s, I had big dreams of being a princess — still do. As I aged, however, I recognized how small the princess job market was, and so I decided to settle for another regal role; a countess, or something. Living in Mexico, I’m surrounded by palaces and colonial mansions in which I can spend a night and live my royal fantasy, without the hard work of doing whatever it is that a countess actually does.
If I’ve learned one thing in my adult years, it’s that there is always someone else out there with a similar dream — maybe you, too, have gotten lost in the idea of one day waking up a viceroy, marquess or an attaché. Now, you can. These colonial mansions — defined as such when built between 1519 and 1821 and featuring thick stone walls, high ceilings and classic central courtyards — offer a unique way to experience Mexico’s rich history. Like the hidden gems featured in a previous piece on Mexico’s authentic travel treasures, these properties let you step into Mexico’s aristocratic past without sacrificing that glorious rainfall shower.
Mexico City: Gran Hotel Ciudad de México
This former 17th-century palace puts you in the heart of Mexico, within walking distance of the Zócalo, Metropolitan Cathedral, and National Palace, where the current president resides. One of CDMX’s oldest houses, it was once the Palacio de los Condes de Miravalle, a name you may recall from my article Know your neighborhood: Condesa, or from James Bond’s brief appearance in the Mexican capital. The third countess from this family line owned the hacienda that eventually became the neighborhood of Condesa. The boutique’s breakfast patio features a captivating fresco by Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, and its rooftop terrace offers panoramic views of Centro Histórico and a pool for the ultimate royal treatment.
Mérida: La Misión de Fray Diego
Partially built in 1596 as part of the Temple of Nuns, this mansion harbors Mérida’s most tantalizing mystery: a rumored underground tunnel connecting the adjacent church to the cathedral. Legend claims cloistered nuns used this secret passage to move unseen through the city. While archaeologists have never confirmed the tunnel’s existence, the possibility adds intrigue to your stay in one of Mérida’s storied buildings. The hotel embraces its convent origins with meditation-worthy courtyards, religious relics, and graceful iron-wrought details.
San Miguel de Allende: Casa Blanca 7
Mexico meets Morocco in this 300-year-old house that defies colonial convention. Spanish arches frame Islamic tiles, Berber carpets warm stone floors, and inlaid furniture, such as four-poster beds, creates an Arabian Nights atmosphere in the heart of Mexico. With just ten suites, it feels like staying in a wealthy merchant’s private home. San Miguel’s well-to-do flock to Fatima 7, the hotel’s rooftop restaurant, for Mediterranean dishes and vistas of the Templo de San Francisco, a view that perfectly captures this property’s East-meets-West magic.
Puebla: Mesón Sacristía de la Compañía
Shop while you sleep at this 250-year-old treasure hunter’s paradise. Every antique in your room, from hand-carved armoires to colonial ceramics, comes with a price tag. The “hotel-antique gallery concept” turns browsing into an art form across just four rooms in the charming boutique situated on the famous Callejón de los Sapos. Sip coffee in the courtyard café while plotting which 19th-century Mexican artifacts will fit in your suitcase, or book a mole-making class in the colonial kitchen. The Mesón Sacristía is retail therapy meets colonial history, perfect for travelers who prefer souvenirs with centuries of stories.
Guanajuato: El Mesón de los Poetas
Breakfast with Octavio Paz, lunch with Federico García Lorca and cocktails with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz? Bookworms will have a field day in any of the hotel’s 48 rooms, each of which honors a different poet through personalized décor and ambiance. This 18th-century mansion doubles as a living literature museum, where labyrinthine corridors echo the city’s winding alleyways. The hotel’s central courtyard, El Patio de la Palabra — The Patio of the Word — is the ideal setting to recite your latest literary masterpiece. The property also functions as an art gallery, so you’re essentially sleeping inside a cultural center where creativity flows as freely as the tequila.
Morelia: Hotel de la Soledad
Tragedy, bankruptcy, war and resurrection: This hotel’s 290-year saga reads like a Mexican telenovela. Built in 1735, the project halted when the owners’ only son died suddenly, leaving behind a half-finished dream. The building survived Morelia’s near-abandonment during the War of Independence, multiple bankruptcies and a parade of desperate owners before its 2008 resurrection as a luxury hotel. Today it holds Small Luxury Hotels status and Condé Nast recognition, proving that sometimes the best stories come from the darkest chapters. The name “La Soledad” — Solitude — perfectly captures the property’s epic journey from ruin to glory.
Querétaro: La Casa de la Marquesa
According to local lore, Emperor Maximilian slept here, and that’s just the beginning. This baroque palace was built in 1756 as a love letter — or perhaps a pacification of sorts — from the Marqués de la Villa del Villar del Águila to his wife, complete with elaborate carved stonework and Moorish-inspired arches. The 25 suites overflow with period antiques, while balconies offer views of UNESCO-listed streets that remain as lively as imperial times. The palace chapel, grand staircases, and original paintings create an atmosphere so authentically aristocratic that you may confuse your travel partner with your personal jester.
Zacatecas: Hotel Mesón de Jobito
Don Jobito died in room 107 and apparently never left. This early-18th-century inn embraces its haunted reputation with enthusiasm, and guests report flickering lights, moving objects and an invisible presence watching them around 4 a.m. The ghost of the former night watchman seems particularly fond of playful pranks, from mysterious phone calls to unexplained laughter echoing through the halls. Originally built for miners and merchants during Zacatecas’s silver boom, the mesón now caters to ghost hunters and thrill-seekers who want their colonial experience with a side of the supernatural.
These colonial mansions offer more than just comfortable accommodation. They’re portals to Mexico’s aristocratic past, where you can live like royalty while experiencing Mexican history. Each property preserves centuries-old architecture and stories, providing the kind of immersive cultural experience that makes Mexico’s colonial heritage come to life.
Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog or follow her on Instagram.
A year after El Mayo’s capture, Sinaloa’s capital is seen as Mexico’s most dangerous city
The latest National Survey of Urban Public Safety, released by the national statistics agency INEGI on Thursday, shows that residents of Culiacán consider their city, the state capital of Sinaloa, to be the least safe of any urban area in Mexico.
That finding is unlikely to surprise many, given that the state has been under siege since a civil war erupted among rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel last year. Still, even in a nation where 63% of urbanites feel unsafe in their own city (up from 59.4% of a year ago), the 90.8% who feel Culiacán is unsafe is a striking figure, and a major increase from the 44.7% who felt unsafe this time last year.
(José Betanzos Zárate/Cuartoscuro)
The current war was triggered after Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was allegedly kidnapped and taken to the U.S., where he was arrested.
Zambada’s arrest escalated a long-running dispute between the “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayos” factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. The internecine conflict — which was foreseen back in 2021 — began less than a month later, grabbing headlines after the military was targeted via a narco-blockade in a rural area north of Culiacán on Aug. 29.
Official records show that there were 50 murders officially reported in Sinaloa in July 2024 and 44 the following month. In September, that number spiked to 142 and has consistently exceeded three figures since, peaking at 207 in June.
The news website N+ reported that 2,092 people were killed across the state between September 2024 and June 30, 2025. Also, nearly 2,000 civilians have been “disappeared,” with 278 of these disappearances occurring in Culiacán since Jan. 1, according to the newspaper Infobae.
Additionally, officials received 1,794 complaints of kidnapping, arbitrary detention and sexual harassment between September 2024 and June 1, 2025. Among those kidnapped are teen-agers as young as 14 who are “recruited” by the cartel to serve as look-outs and gunmen.
A Culiacán merchant who spoke to N+ summed up the situation frankly, saying, “We are living in a war zone.”
The violence has also devastated the local economy. Since the beginning of the crisis, it is estimated that more than 1,800 businesses in Culiacán have closed and an additional 800 people have lost their jobs.
In the incident that sparked the firestorm of violence, Zambada claims he was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López (son of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera) and his associates on July 25, 2024, forced onto a private plane and flown to an airport in the U.S.
Zambada was eventually transferred to a prison in New York City and is scheduled for a hearing in U.S. federal court in Brooklyn on Aug. 25.
Although Culiacán is the epitome of unsafe cities in Mexico, it is not alone in producing high negative numbers in public safety perception.
In the INEGI survey, residents of Ecatepec de Morelos in México state (90.7%), Uruapan, Michoacán (89.5%), Tapachula, Chiapas (88.1%) and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora (88.0%), overwhelmingly reported feeling unsafe in their own cities.
On the other hand, residents of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, just 215 kilometers south of Culiacán, said they felt safer than they did a year ago. There, the negative perception fell from 75.5% in June 2024 to 64.5% this year.
Sheinbaum condemns war in Gaza: Friday’s mañanera recapped
At her Friday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to a question about the situation in the Gaza Strip, where a “nightmare of historic proportions” is unfolding, according to the United Nations’ assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.
She also promised to bring peace to the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa, where Sinaloa Cartel infighting has claimed well over 1,000 lives since last September.
Here is a recap of the remarks the president made about Gaza and Sinaloa at her July 25 mañanera.
‘We condemn what is happening at this time,’ Sheinbaum says of the situation in Gaza
A reporter asked the president whether Mexico would add its name to an intergovernmental statement calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza.
Signed by the foreign ministers of 30 countries including those of Canada, France, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom, the statement says: “We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now.”
“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” it continues.
“… We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively,” said the July 21 statement.
Israel on Friday reportedly took the decision to allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza starting on Friday. Famine is a major problem in the besieged Palestinian territory, where scores of adults and children have died from hunger, and close to 60,000 people have been been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
On Friday morning, Sheinbaum said that “in all international forums,” and in Mexico, the Mexican government has made it clear that it is in favor of peace and the “peaceful” coexistence of two states — “the state of Israel and the state of Palestine.”
“Of course we condemn what is happening at this time, and Mexico is putting all its words and actions into building peace between these two states,” she said.
In March, Sheinbaum, who has a Jewish background, officially recognized Nadya Rasheed as the Palestinian Ambassador to Mexico at a ceremony held at the National Palace.
Sheinbaum: ‘We’re going to pacify Sinaloa’
A reporter noted that this Friday, July 25, marks the first anniversary of the arrest in the United States of alleged Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
She said that the arrest of Zambada — who alleges he was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López and forced onto a U.S.-bound private plane — was a “trigger” for the “war” between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, namely “Los Mayos” and “Los Chapitos.”
The reporter asked the president whether there is a “way out” of the cartel war in Sinaloa, which recorded the third highest number of homicides among Mexico’s 32 states in the first six months of 2025.
“We’re working and we’re going to pacify Sinaloa,” Sheinbaum responded.
“That will be the case. We work every day and when there is honesty, strategy and work there are results, in Sinaloa and the entire country,” she said.
“Of course Sinaloa will be pacified,” Sheinbaum added.
Like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president has asserted that the arrest of Zambada was the result of a U.S. “operation.”
Last September, López Obrador claimed that the U.S. government was partly to blame for the wave of cartel violence in Sinaloa because it carried out an “operation” that resulted in the arrest of Zambada in the U.S. on July 25, 2024.
By “operation,” the ex-president apparently meant a negotiation with Joaquín Guzmán López — another alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader and one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons — that he believes resulted in the delivery of Zambada to U.S. law enforcement authorities at an airport in New Mexico a year ago today.
The U.S. government has denied any direct involvement in the capture of Zambada.
For much of the last year, the Mexican government has been calling on its U.S. counterpart to provide it with all the information it has about the events leading up to the arrest of Zambada.
On Friday, Sheinbaum spoke about the importance of “collaboration and coordination” between the Mexican and U.S. governments on security issues.
She expressed full confidence in her own government’s security strategy, declaring that she is “convinced we’re doing the right thing” and highlighting that homicide numbers are trending down.
“We’re going to reduce all crimes,” Sheinbaum added.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
5 Mexica customs you’ve adopted if you live in Mexico City (and you haven’t even noticed)
It’s a quintessential Mexico City experience: driving south across the Anillo Periférico ring road, you find archaeological ruins on the side of the road almost out of the blue. One of the most famous sites in the southern part of the city is Cuicuilco, the remains of a powerful ancient city that was destroyed by the volcano Xitle around AD 315.
Coming across these ancient ruins can also happen when finding your way across the Metro. The Pino Suárez station is famous fthe Pyramid of Ehécatl, which was built in honor of the Mexica (Aztec) god of the winds and sits in the middle of the station.
Templo Mayor, the most important religious and political center of the ancient Mexica city of Tenochtitlan, the ruins of Cuicuilco and these other sites are a testament to how our pre-Columbian past has not abandoned us, despite the efforts made by European invaders to eradicate our ancient roots. Similarly, denizens of the capital keep some Mexica customs alive in our everyday lives. These are some of the most iconic.
Grocery shopping at a traditional market
The joy of grocery shopping at a traditional Mexican market comes from embodying a living, centuries-oldMesoamerican tradition. Mesoamerica’s largest market was built in Tlatelolco, near the present-day Historic Center in Mexico City, around 1337. This became the main market that supplied the population of Tenochtitlán with all the products that could be imagined at that time, as documented by the Institute of Historical Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Today, over 600 years later, markets and tianguis continue to be a form of social cohesion, where reminiscences of that Mexica past still resonate with the voices of the merchants.
Training your palate to be resistant to spicy meals
Every time a foreign customer orders non-spicy salsa at a taquería, the great Mexica goddess Tlatlauhqui Cihuatl Ichilzintli, the Respectable Lady of Chilis, cries in desperation. But she finds solace when those of us who have found a home in this country bathe our daily meals with anything spicy. Hot peppers were a central part of Mexica cuisine and medicine and were even used to discipline unruly children. Be it having a bowl of salsa verde at the table or sprinkling chile en polvo on our freshly cut fruit, adding a spicy touch to whatever we eat is undeniably a Mexica heritage, which we have kept alive in our eating habits.
Eating bugs, mushrooms and flowers
Chapulines? Escamoles? Gusanos de maguey? Yes! Crickets, ant eggs and worms were at the center of Mexica tables,— and if you’ve ever had lunch at a tianguis a taquero may have offered you one of these delicacies. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, as documented by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, over 96 different species of insects were a fundamental part of Mexica cuisine. Even the most upscale restaurants in Polanco offer these delights.
However, you don’t have to eat anything previously alive to embody a living Mexica tradition. You can go veggie, as well! For example, eating mushroom quesadillas is a must at any mercado de antojitos. And of course, if you haven’t tried pumpkin flower tamales at Xochimilco, you’re absolutely missing out.
Including native corn in your daily diet
I can’t fathom a Mexican table without tortillas. Tortillas serve both as sustenance and cutlery at Mexican tables. As a key ingredient for main Mexican courses, per capita consumption is recorded at around 331 kilograms per year, as suggested by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry’s latest figures. And how could we not? Our land has nurtured roughly 67 different species of corn for over 10,000 years. Tortillas — “tlaxcalli” in Nahuatl — were a staple food as important for the Mexica and other ancient Mesoamerican cultures as they are for modern day Mexicans.
Using a molcajete to pound grains, spices and veggies
If you ever go to a fonda serving comida corrida, an establishment where you can have a three-course meal for less than 100 pesos, you’ll probably see the cook making their own salsa in a molcajete. The term comes from Náhuatl words “molli,” which means sauce, and “caxtli,” or bowl: “mollicaxtli” therefore means the sauce bowl, as documented by the Exterior Relations Ministry (SRE). It’s usually made of volcanic rock, and traditionally has the face of an animal — usually, a pig — carved in the front.
If you live in Mexico and love to cook, a molcajete is an absolute kitchen must, especially if you’re into making your own spicy salsas. There is no bigger joy than smashing chilis and tomatoes against the pig’s volcanic back, and using the mortar to get the best of their juices. That, too, is a Mexica tradition that Mexican households have kept alive — and will probably persist through the passage of time.
Andrea Fischer contributes to the features desk at Mexico News Daily. She has edited and written for National Geographic en Español and Muy Interesante México, and continues to be an advocate for anything that screams science. Or yoga. Or both.
Mexico and US sign agreement to end Tijuana sewage crisis
Mexico and the United States reached an agreement on Thursday that aims to permanently fix a long-running environmental problem in which Mexican sewage flows into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California after crossing the border via the Tijuana River.
Mexico’s Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Mexico City that seeks to address “the sanitation and environmental crisis in the Tijuana–San Diego Region.”
The MOU states that there is a shared desire to “coordinate cross-border solutions that permanently stop untreated wastewater from polluting coastal communities, harming public health, and damaging the environment on both sides of the border.”
The document outlines commitments of both Mexico and the United States that are aimed at achieving those objectives. One of Mexico’s commitments is to allocate US $93 million in 2026 and 2027 to “facilitate completion” of a number of projects to improve the Tijuana sewage system by December 31, 2027, “or sooner.”
The EPA said in a statement that the MOU “achieves the three top Trump Administration priorities and milestones critical to ensuring a 100% solution” to the sewage crisis in the Tijuana-San Diego area.
The agency noted that Mexico will allocate $93 million to sewage system projects and that the timeline for the completion of those projects has been reduced by up to four years in some cases. It also said that “several necessary Mexico side projects have been added to account for future population growth in Tijuana and operation and maintenance costs.”
Zeldin declared that “the Trump Administration is proud to deliver this massive environmental and national security win for Americans in the San Diego area who have been living with this disgusting raw sewage flowing into their communities for far too long.”
He emphasized the need for speed in the completion of projects to solve the sewage crisis, telling reporters “that if any speed changes, that speed will have to be a speed to go faster.”
Earlier this year, Zeldin accused Mexico of being too slow to complete projects it has committed to carrying out in Tijuana, where the population and industry have grown significantly in recent decades and wastewater treatment plants and other sewage infrastructure have become ineffective.
The signing of the MOU came three months after the EPA chief said that Mexico must act to stop the massive flow of sewage and toxic chemicals from the Tijuana River into the Pacific Ocean.
The sewage has contaminated the coastline of southern California for years, and sickened U.S. Navy seals, Border Patrol agents, beach users and others.
Bárcena said on Thursday that Mexico and the United States are committed to solving the binational sewage problem “once and for all.”
She highlighted that the MOU is “the first binational agreement … between Mexico and the United States under the administration of President Donald Trump and President Claudia Sheinbaum.”
“There is a great commitment on the part of both countries to strengthen cooperation and this is what we’re demonstrating today,” Bárcena said.
The agreement comes at a time when there are range of tensions in the Mexico-United States relationship, including ones related to trade and drug trafficking.
The memorandum in detail
The MOU states that Mexico “intends to immediately seek internal funding” to initiate construction of two projects in 2025.
One US $13.3-million project will divert 10 million gallons per day of treated effluent to the Rodríguez Dam, located upstream on the Tijuana River.
Another $8.4-million project will rehabilitate the Parallel Gravity Line, a major wastewater pipeline.
Those two projects will be completed by the end of 2025, the EPA said.
The $93 million in funding to be used in 2026 and 2027 is to rehabilitate various sewers in the Tijuana sewage system and to carry out upgrades to the Arturo Herrera and La Morita wastewater treatment plants, among other projects. That money is so-called “Minute 328 funds,” part of a financial commitment Mexico pledged to make in accordance with a 2022 agreement.
Bárcena said that Mexico is also committed to doubling the capacity of the San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant. The Environment Ministry said in a statement that it is “exploring financing alternatives” to achieve that goal, including the possibility of accessing “support” from the EPA “through existing mechanisms at the North American Development Bank.”
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Major Milestone Reached! The US & Mexico are collaborating to improve water infrastructure in the Tijuana River watershed. The US will fund key projects, continue expanding the South Bay wastewater plant capacity, and inform Mexico of trash removal expenses. Mexico will… pic.twitter.com/T9nk7WRIuQ
— U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (@usibwc) July 25, 2025
The San Antonio de los Buenos plant “had been spewing at least 23 million gallons of sewage per day (1,000 liters per second) into the Pacific Ocean” before recent repairs, Reuters reported.
Even now, “millions of gallons of treated and untreated sewage from Tijuana’s overburdened [sewage] system makes its way daily into the Tijuana River and reaches the ocean in the San Diego suburb of Imperial Beach,” the news agency said.
Among the United States’ commitments, as detailed in the MOU, is to release EPA Border Water Infrastructure Program funding to complete the rehabilitation of Pump Station 1 in San Diego as well as Tijuana River collection pipes. Pump Station 1 treats sewage pumped in from Tijuana.
The United States also committed to “expand treatment capacity” at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego “from 25 to 50 million gallons per day (‘MGD’) by December 2027, with an interim expansion to 35 MGD by August 2025.”
That plant also treats sewage from Tijuana.
The MOU also states that Mexico and the United States “intend to enter into a new Minute by December 31, 2025, or sooner,” that will contain a number of actions to be “executed immediately through existing or new binational workgroups led by the two Sections of IBWC” — the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Among the 13 actions are to:
- Initiate engineering and financial studies to assess the feasibility of installing an ocean outfall at the San Antonio de los Buenos plant in Tijuana.
- Assess the technical and financial feasibility of expanding treatment capacity of the San Antonio de los Buenos plant from 18.26 to 43.37 million gallons per day.
- Develop a routine schedule and cost-sharing formula for cleaning and sediment dredging operations in the Tijuana River.
- Develop a Tijuana water infrastructure master plan to ensure that sufficient water infrastructure is planned and constructed commensurate with anticipated population growth.
The MOU states that the 13 actions “are deemed necessary to ensure a comprehensive and durable solution to address transboundary wastewater management issues, human health concerns, and environmental conditions in the Tijuana River watershed.”
On Friday morning, President Sheinbaum described the MOU as a “very important agreement” and highlighted that the United States is committing $600 million to projects in the San Diego area.
“It’s a comprehensive bilateral agreement,” she said.
With reports from Reuters, NBC San Diego and La Jornada
Nayarit expects a million visitors this summer, bringing a 5-billion-peso boost to its economy
Summer vacation has begun and Nayarit officials are projecting a five billion-peso windfall from the one million tourists expected to visit the state’s beaches and pueblos mágicos.
State and federal officials launched Operation Summer Vacation 2025 on July 4, a program aimed at providing security to tourists and Nayarit residents. The strategy involves state and federal security, health, civil protection and tourism agencies.
Hotel occupancy in the state’s coastal areas is projected to reach 88%, contributing mightily to the 5 billion pesos (US $270 million) expected to enter the state this summer.
While providing an update this week, state Tourism Minister Juan Enrique Suárez del Real spoke of the growth in domestic and international tourists and visitors to Nayarit in recent years.
He said that while roughly two-thirds of visitors to Nayarit arrive by land, more than 60% of passengers arriving at the Puerto Vallarta International Airport in neighboring Jalisco visit destinations in Nayarit. This translates to approximately four million tourists arriving by air each year, he said.
Suárez del Real said Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro has prioritized air connectivity with new international routes arriving at the Tepic International Airport (TPQ) from the U.S. and a direct flight from Canada due to launch in December. The airport in Tepic, the state capital, officially became an international airport in 2009, but a July 16 flight from Los Angeles was TPQ’s first-ever international arrival.
Navarro oversaw a 4.1-billion-peso (US $221 million) renovation project to expand TPQ’s runways and build a new terminal and a new control tower that he said further strengthens the state’s position as a key destination for international tourism.
The tourism minister called on all state residents “to embrace tourism as a matter of shared responsibility and commitment.” He said that beyond entertainment, tourism means “meeting all the needs of those who visit Nayarit with quality and efficiency.”
With reports from El Universal and El Economista
Surprise drop in inflation likely to trigger further interest rate cuts, experts predict
Mexico’s headline inflation slowed for the third consecutive fortnight, according to the national statistics agency INEGI, falling back within the central bank’s target range.
Inflation declined in the first half of July, marked by lower costs for various agricultural products, such as lemons and avocados, giving rise to expectations that the central bank (Banxico) will continue to cut interest rates.
Annualized inflation surprised to the downside in the first half of July, slowing from 4.13% to 3.55%, below the market consensus of 3.61%. Consumer prices rose 0.15% compared to the previous two weeks, also below expectations of a 0.27% increase.
President Claudia Sheinbaum celebrated the news, saying during her Thursday morning press conference that the slowdown in inflation “indicates that [Banxico] has room to keep cutting interest rates.”
Citing INEGI data, Sheinbaum said the rise in inflation in previous months was primarily due to the increase in the prices of beef, pork, and chicken, whose costs have begun to normalize.
Among the products with the highest price increases during the first two weeks of July were nopales, up 14.44%; air transport, up 11.25% and lettuce and cabbage, up 8.71%.
In the other column, grapes showed an 11.96% decrease in price; papayas fell 5.86% and lemons fell 5.73%.
Banxico, which targets an inflation rate of 3% plus or minus one percentage point, lowered its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points in June — its fourth straight cut of that magnitude. This reduced the policy rate in Latin America’s second-largest economy to 8.0%, the lowest since August 2022.
Brokerage Monex said the data surprised the market as inflation reached its lowest level during the first fortnight of July in a decade. Still, core inflation continues to present challenges.
The closely watched core price index, which measures inflation excluding volatile items like food and energy prices, climbed 0.15% in early July, compared with 0.22% a month earlier.
Rumbo Económico MÉX: En la 1ra. quincena de julio, la inflación general fue de 0.15% q/q, situándose por debajo de la expectativa del mercado de 0.25%. A tasa anual, la inflación general se moderó a 3.55% desde 4.13% previo, alcanzando así su nivel más bajo desde la 2Q de enero. pic.twitter.com/VGTJiv2pE7
— Monex Análisis (@MonexAnalisis) July 24, 2025
The year-to-year core component came in at 4.25%, easing from 4.28% and below expectations (4.31%). Within the core index, goods “registered upward pressure,” according to a Scotiabank report, “rising from 3.97% to 4.01%, while services decelerated from 4.63% to 4.49%.”
At the same time, the non-core rate declined from 3.43% to 1.24%, fueled by a sharp decline in fruit and vegetable prices (down 12.24%). This abrupt drop offset a 10.70% increase in livestock products.
In its statement from the June 27 meeting, Banxico said it expects to slow the pace of interest rate cuts. Monex analysts concurred, writing in a report that “Given the stubbornness of core inflation, we expect Banxico to reduce the scale of its cuts.”
Monex and Scotiabank project that the central bank will vote for a 25 basis point rate cut at its Aug. 7 meeting, lowering the benchmark interest rate to 7.75%.
With reports from El Economista and Reuters
Mexico doing ‘everything’ to avoid 30% US tariffs: Thursday’s mañanera recapped
At her Thursday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about her government’s efforts to stave off new U.S. tariffs that are due to take effect next week.
She also spoke about two significant reductions: one in the amount of fentanyl seized by U.S. authorities at the Mexico-U.S. border and another in the prevailing inflation rate in Mexico.
Here is a recap of the president’s July 24 mañanera.
Mexico doing ‘everything’ it can to stop 30% US tariffs from taking effect
Asked about the United States’ proposed 30% tariff on imports from Mexico that is scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1, Sheinbaum said that her government is doing “everything” it can to stop the new duty from entering into force.
“There is a team working in the United States with the [U.S.] commerce secretary and the treasury secretary,” she said.
“We made a series of proposals that have to do with Plan México and also reducing the trade deficit [with the United States], which is one of the concerns of President Trump,” Sheinbaum said.
“The trade deficit can be reduced through different mechanisms that don’t affect the economy of Mexico. So we’ve been making a series of proposals and we’ll present them here [at a later time], hoping that we reach an agreement,” she said.
US announces 30% tariff on Mexican goods as bilateral talks continue
United States President Donald Trump informed Sheinbaum in a July 11 letter that “starting August 1, 2025, we will charge Mexico a Tariff of 30% on Mexican products sent into the United States, separate from all Sectoral Tariffs,” which currently apply to steel, aluminum, vehicles and auto parts.
In the letter, Trump noted that the United States “imposed Tariffs on Mexico” earlier this year “to deal with our Nation’s Fentanyl crisis.”
“… Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done is, is not enough,” he wrote.
On Thursday, Sheinbaum said she would seek to speak to Trump about the proposed 30% tariff “if it’s necessary.”
“… We’re going to see whether the teams can find an agreement. … We’re confident we can reach a good agreement,” she said.
Sheinbaum touts 50% decline in US fentanyl seizures
Sheinbaum told reporters that the quantity of fentanyl seized by U.S. authorities at the Mexico-U.S. border has declined 50% since she took office last October.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that 4,367 pounds (1,981 kg) of fentanyl were seized at the Mexico-U.S. border in the first six months of 2025, a 54.7% decrease compared to the same period of last year.
Sheinbaum asserted that the decline in fentanyl seizures at the border — which can be used as a rough proxy to estimate the amount of fentanyl being smuggled into the United States from Mexico — is evidence that more of the synthetic opioid is being seized in Mexico.
That confiscated fentanyl — produced in Mexico by criminal organizations with precursor chemicals imported from China — doesn’t reach the United States, she stressed.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch reported on Tuesday that around 1.5 tonnes of fentanyl, “and more than 3.5 million fentanyl pills,” have been seized in Mexico since October.
On Thursday, Sheinbaum attributed fentanyl seizures in Mexico during her administration to “the entire security strategy,” which includes a greater emphasis on the use of intelligence and investigation to combat crime.
#MañaneraPresidenta | ¡QUE EE.UU TAMBIÉN HAGA SU PARTE!
Claudia Sheinbaum dijo que desde octubre de 2024 a la fecha se ha reducido un 50% el tráfico de fentanilo a Estados Unidos. Algo reconocido por las instituciones de ese país.
Esto gracias a la estrategia de seguridad.… pic.twitter.com/jkFf6L7JVM
— Juncal Solano (@juncalssolano) July 24, 2025
She stressed that authorities are also cracking down on methamphetamine, which is also produced by criminal groups in clandestine labs.
García Harfuch said on Tuesday that authorities have dismantled 1,193 clandestine drug labs since the government took office in October.
Sheinbaum highlighted that figure on Thursday, and noted that the estimated financial impact on organized crime groups due to drug confiscations, the dismantling of labs and the arrest of suspected criminals during her administration is 43 billion pesos (US $2.3 billion).
“All of this is part of the work we’re doing, and, as we always say, we’re also seeking that, on the other side in the United States, they do their part” to combat the distribution of fentanyl and other drugs, she said.
Sheinbaum highlights ‘significant reduction’ in inflation
A reporter noted that Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate, as reported by national statistics agency INEGI, declined to 3.55% in the first half of July. That rate is within the Bank of Mexico’s tolerated range of 2-4%.
En la primera quincena de julio 2025, el Índice Nacional de Precios al Consumidor #INPC presentó un nivel de 140.731 y representó un aumento de 0.15% respecto a la quincena previa. Con este resultado, la inflación general anual fue de 3.55%.
Por componente, la inflación anual… pic.twitter.com/I0mVGG5K9z
— INEGI INFORMA (@INEGI_INFORMA) July 24, 2025
Sheinbaum first said that beef, pork and chicken prices are “returning to their [normal] price” and helping to ease inflation.
The rate in the first half of the month represents a “significant reduction” in headline inflation, she said.
“It went from 4.13% to 3.55%,” Sheinbaum noted, referring in the first instance to the annual headline rate in the second half of June.
She said that the new inflation data gives the Bank of Mexico the “margin” required to continue lowering its key interest rate.
A continuation of the central bank’s easing cycle “will help us … increase investment” in Mexico, Sheinbaum said.
The Bank of Mexico has cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points after each of its board’s four monetary policy meetings this year. The rate is currently set at 8.0%, its lowest level in nearly three years.
The central bank’s next monetary policy meeting will take place on Aug. 7.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
Authorities bust extortion ring controlling farming, construction and even package delivery
Federal and México state authorities have seized 52 properties and arrested eight people in a sweeping operation targeting an extortion network allegedly linked to the La Familia Michoacana cartel, officials said Tuesday.
Dubbed “Operation Liberation” — “Operación Liberación” in Spanish — the coordinated raid spanned 14 municipalities in the state, including Valle de Bravo, Malinalco, Ixtapan de la Sal and Texcaltitlán.
Federal and state forces deployed 2,866 personnel and 698 vehicles while executing simultaneous searches of businesses used for hoarding and selling construction materials, meat, animals and other goods at vastly inflated prices.
La Familia Michoacana, sometimes called La Nueva Familia Michoacana, is one of six cartels the United States government designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in February.
Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch — who survived a 2020 assassination attempt reportedly orchestrated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel when he served as police chief of Mexico City — said the crackdown was urgently needed “to protect the local economy and the peace of mind of thousands of families.”
In a press release from the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, García Harfuch added that it was essential “to halt these practices that sought to control economic sectors, from food supplies to construction materials … [to] dismantle their operations, seize assets linked to crime and regain control of the territory for the benefit of the public.”
Among those arrested was Yareli “N,” a councilwoman from Ixtapan de la Sal, about 60 kilometers south from Toluca, the state’s capital, and leaders of the cartel’s management structure.
The perpetrators allegedly forced merchants and residents to buy products exclusively from cartel-controlled stores or face violence. Anyone purchasing from outside sellers was subject to robbery and threats, authorities said.
“Residents are unable to turn to other establishments,” said State Prosecutor José Luis Cervantes Martínez.
Como resultado de los trabajos conjuntos con el @GobiernoMX, @SSPCMexico, @GN_Mexico_, @Defensamx, @SEMAR_mx, @SS_Edomex, @PJEdomex y @FiscaliaEdomex en el #Edomex, el pasado 21 de julio inició la #OperaciónLiberación. pic.twitter.com/vzUcXXiDQ4
— Gobierno del Estado de México (@Edomex) July 23, 2025
Investigators said the group manipulated prices through fake labor unions and front businesses, as well as through mines, butcher shops, egg stores, and chicken and pig farms.
In one case, according to authorities, a ton of rebar was sold for 23,950 pesos (US $1,292) — 33.5% above the market rate in Mexico — while a kilogram of whole chicken fetched 115 pesos, 53% more than normal.
In Texcaltitlán, for example, customers paid a mandatory five-peso fee per kilo to weigh cattle, while in Tejupilco, the group monopolized package delivery, charging “illegal fees” and sometimes confiscating goods.
Seized assets include 4,174 poultry, 17,657 kilograms of feed, 3.9 tons of meat, 5,000 bags of cement, 128 vehicles and 18 exotic animals — including pumas, peacocks, swans and raccoons.
The 52 properties seized included six mines, 24 warehouses, a slaughterhouse, a ranch, a hotel and an unnamed number of butcher shops, chicken farms and lumberyards.
Officials pledged many materials would be distributed to benefit affected communities, while also saying that the operation is ongoing and will continue until all responsible parties are brought to justice.
With reports from Animal Politico, Infobae and El Financiero
